Trip Report
Sea Kayak - Case Inlet
Great paddle with some challenging conditions. Fully explored Rocky Bay and Vaughn Bay and circled Stretch and Reach Islands.
Will Greenough
- Sat, Feb 20, 2021
- Sea Kayak - Case Inlet
- Case Inlet
- Sea Kayaking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Calm and mostly sunny in the morning. Winds came up just after noon to around 15kt from the southwest with gusts up to 20kt. Wind waves on crossing from Vaughn Bay to Stretch Island were whited capping and up to 2 ft. Partly sunny in afternoon. Temperatures in the mid 40s.
From the launch at Allyn ($5.00 parking fee) we crossed over to Victor, where we viewed the petroglyphs that Terry had researched. Conditions were calm and sunny. We then paddled into Rocky Bay and followed it up to the creek at its head before heading out and around to Vaugh Bay. We took a quick break under the bridge at the head end of Vaughn Bay, out of the wind which had come up as we entered the bay.
After break we headed out and across to Stretch Island (Stretch Point Park) into a strong (10-20kt) head wind with lots of whitecaps. The crossing was slow, but we made steady progress and stopped at the park beach for a well deserved lunch break. We then paddled inside Stretch Island and south under the bridge against the wind, rounding the south end of the island. Nice downwind conditions running north along the outside of Stretch Island and then headed inside Reach Island and back along the west shore of Case Inlet to Allyn.
Case Inlet has lots of fetch for South - Southwest winds. Many trips here and for Stretch -Reach Islands can have challenging conditions - need to pay attention to wind forecasts and to developing conditions. This trip certainly had true SK-III conditions on the crossing.
